Chapter 195: Notes Arranged in the Little Notebook
Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Pei Qian flipped through his little notebook—there were still two people he needed to "arrange."
Actually, the very first name on his notebook wasn't Lin Wan. After all, Lin Wan had only saved him a few hundred thousand in rent. Looking at it now, that amount of money wasn't even worth fussing over—it could just as well have been spent.
Besides, considering that Lin Chang had given him two hundred thousand, Pei Qian had to show some leniency toward Lin Wan.
The top name in the notebook was, of course—Qiao Liang!
Just two weeks ago, when Lonely Desert Road got its update, that damned Teacher Qiao had once again sung Tengda's praises, nearly driving him to the point of wanting to hire an assassin.
From Lonely Desert Road to Game Producer, and then to the later DLC, Qiao Liang's shadow had been haunting him nonstop.
The problem was, after having people investigate him last time, Pei Qian still hadn't figured out what to do about him.
Qiao Liang lived in the capital but wasn't a local—just another drifting northerner.
Life had probably been tough for him at first, but after joining Aili Island, he was able to live decently thanks to the video incentive program and sponsored content. In fact, he was now doing so well that he wasn't even willing to take lower-end sponsorships anymore.
Basically, ever since that "Masterpiece Showcase" episode where he covered Game Producer, Qiao Liang had forcefully branded it as "performance art marketing," and then, for some inexplicable reason, ended up walking the path of "earning money while standing tall."
What was strange was that, while other uploaders would get flamed for sponsored content, Teacher Qiao could do the exact same thing, and his viewers would flood the comments shouting: "Great ad!" "Sponsored like a work of art!"
Other uploaders who saw this were so jealous they practically fell apart at the molecular level.
But a special case like Teacher Qiao? There wasn't going to be another one.
And precisely because of this, Teacher Qiao was practically overflowing with gratitude toward Tengda. After all, he had only been a moderately popular uploader before, but now he had become one of Aili Island Gaming Channel's top stars, mostly thanks to piggybacking off Tengda's fame.
Chances were, the next time Tengda released a game, he would immediately latch onto it again.
Pei Qian had originally considered crushing Qiao Liang with money. That was doable, sure. But the problem was—what then?
Yes, Qiao Liang was strapped for cash. But if he bought him off, what would he even have him do?
Get him to release videos trashing Tengda's games?
That would be completely unreasonable. Worse, no matter how much Qiao Liang smeared them, his audience would just treat it as another round of elaborate performance art.
Pay him to stop making any Tengda-related videos altogether?
Spending money for that would definitely make Qiao Liang suspicious of his true motives—which would go against the system's requirement of secrecy.
So Pei Qian realized he was stuck in a deadlock.
If Teacher Qiao praised Tengda, it was free publicity.
If Teacher Qiao trashed Tengda, it was still free publicity!
How awkward!
Pei Qian understood that, yes, he could absolutely crush Teacher Qiao with money—flatten him so he'd never get back up again. But the problem was, even if Teacher Qiao just lay there eating dirty money, it wouldn't help him one bit.
That was the most painful part.
Still, no matter what, this grudge couldn't go unavenged!
"When the new game launches, we'll max out the budget and force Qiao Liang to play through it a hundred times! Only then can I vent the hatred in my heart!"
Pei Qian's gaze silently shifted to the second name in his little notebook—Lin Wan.
He had already decided to "arrange" Lin Wan over at Shangyang Games. And now was the perfect time.
Shangyang Games' structure was currently fairly complete: with Ye Zhizhou handling creativity and Wang Xiaobin, a seasoned designer, overseeing planning, they weren't exactly short-handed.
But since Wang Xiaobin mainly focused on balancing numbers, he was often stretched too thin, so in reality their structure wasn't all that reasonable.
Assigning Lin Wan over there was mainly to let her experience firsthand how miserable being an lead executive designer was, while also passing on the "Tengda spirit" to Shangyang Games.
The best-case scenario would be that Lin Wan worked herself to exhaustion there only for the game to fail, leaving her disheartened with the gaming industry, and she'd go back to inheriting the family business.
The middling result would be that Lin Wan didn't accomplish much, kept trying but at least Shangyang Games continued losing money—and more importantly, she wouldn't suddenly waive his rent again and nearly give him a heart attack.
The worst outcome… would be if Lin Wan somehow led Shangyang Games to sudden success, her confidence soared, and—well, that didn't bear thinking about.
Still, he thought the chances of that were pretty slim.
With that in mind, Pei Qian called Lin Wan into his office to explain his arrangements.
To his surprise, Lin Wan immediately shook her head and flatly refused.
"I'm not going."
Pei Qian was dumbstruck. So decisive??
Other people, upon learning they were being promoted, would usually be touched to the point of tears on the spot. But her? Not only was she unmoved, she outright refused?
Lin Wan said seriously, "President Pei, thank you for your good intentions."
"But I'm still lacking in ability."
"I'd like to stay here at Tengda, at least until Turn Back Before It's Too Late launches, so I can accumulate more experience."
Pei Qian was speechless.
Of course—she's a rich second-generation youngster! I was overthinking it!
For Lin Wan, promotions weren't important at all.
After all, no matter how high she climbed, it couldn't compare to directly asking her family for money to start her own company.
What she wanted was to learn from successful projects and to enjoy working happily with her colleagues.
Right now, she was having a great time on Tengda's project and had no desire to move.
Pei Qian never expected that his tried-and-true elimination system would actually stumble here!
Could this be… the power of money?
Still, this small hurdle wasn't going to stop him. His mind worked quickly, and he soon came up with a new pitch.
"In this company, people always underestimate themselves."
"And that's normal—working with so many excellent colleagues, it's easy to feel like you're the weak one."
"But you need to believe—you're more than capable of handling this role."
Pei Qian paused, then said seriously, "Going to Shangyang Games is an important mission, one that only you can fulfill."
Lin Wan blinked. "Huh? Really?"
Hearing the words "only you," Lin Wan couldn't help but become curious.
Pei Qian stood, paced a few steps, and explained:
"Shangyang Games is a loss-making company. Since Tengda acquired them, of course we need to reform them deeply."
"But such reform can't be rushed—it has to be done step by step. After all, a company's inertia isn't easy to change."
"And you bear two important responsibilities."
"First, you'll be the link between Shangyang Games and Tengda. Their current lead, Ye Zhizhou, is a bit too cautious. For decisions he doesn't dare to make, you'll make them on his behalf and then report back to me. My biggest fear is that they'll be too afraid to spend money!"
"Second, you're the messenger of Tengda's spirit. I hope you can gradually reform Shangyang Games by bringing Tengda's way of doing things there—whether that means organizing team-building activities or raising salaries and benefits—step by step, make them align with us."
"If you succeed, that'll prove you already have the ability to independently lead a project. And that means your dream won't be far off anymore."
"So, this is a serious challenge. Are you going to back down from it?"
Lin Wan immediately shook her head. "Of course not!"
She hesitated. "Then… will I be able to return to Tengda afterwards?"
Pei Qian smiled slightly. "Of course. Tengda will always be your home. Your desk will always be here—you can come back anytime."
Lin Wan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I'll take on this mission!"